The place of tropes in W.S.Maugham’s presentation of the theatre concept

From our research we found out that W.S.Maugham was also a very good master of literary style.  

As we know stylistic device is a conscious and intentional intensification of some typical structural and/or semantic property of a language unit (neutral or expressive) promoted to a generalized status and thus becoming a generative model. Stylistic device is an abstract pattern, a mould into which any content can be poured.

Stylistic devicesare the conscious and intentional, literary uses of some of the facts of the language ( excluding expressive means ) in which the most essential features ( both structural and semantic ) of the language forms are raised to a generalized level and thereby present a generative model.A stylistic device is an intentional change of a fixed (usual) distribution of language units in speech.

W.S.Maugham’s representation of the THEATRE concept is mainly realized with the help of tropes. For instance, the following fragment includes the use of the epithet great:

“That’s because the public isn’t really interested in the theatre. In the great days of the English stage people didn’t go to see the plays, they went to see the players. It didn’t matter what Kemble and Mrs. Siddons acted. The public went to see them. And even now, though I don’t deny that if the play’s wrong you’re dished, I do contend that if the play’s right, it’s the actors the public go to see, not the play” [27; 17].

Another fragment of the novel also represents the THEATRE concept realized with the help of the epithet lovely, fairly tall, long, low rich, effective, emotional and too-modern: “She had her clothes made in Paris, both for the stage and for private life, and the dressmakers said that no one brought them more orders. She had a lovely figure, everyone admitted that; she was fairly tall for a woman, and she had long legs. It was а pity she had never had a chance of playing Rosalind, she would have looked all right in boy’s clothes, of course it was too late now, but perhaps it was just as well she hadn’t risked it. Though you would have thought, with her brilliance, her roguishness, her sense of comedy she would have been perfect. The critics hadn’t really liked her Beatrice. It was that damned blank verse. Her voice, her rather low rich voice, with that effective hoarseness, which wrung your heart in an emotional passage or gave so much humor to a comedy line, seemed to sound all wrong when she spoke it. And then her articulation; it was so distinct that, without raising her voice, she could make you hear her every word in the last row of the gallery; they said it made verse sound like prose. The fact was, she supposed, that she was much too-modern” [27; 19].

The author uses some tropes for the representation of the THEATRE concept in the following context of the novel. So he uses the simile like a high-born damsel, the epithetsgreat,ancient, wonderfully good, trembling old and pallid: “She felt like a high-born damsel, with all the tradition of a great and ancient family to keep up; her purity was a pearl of great price; she also felt that she was making a wonderfully good impression: of course he was I a great gentleman, and “damn it all” it behaved her to be a great lady. She was so pleased with her performance that when she had got into her room and somewhat noisily locked the door, she paraded up and down bowing right and left graciously to her obsequious retainers. She stretched out her lily white hand for the trembling old steward to kiss (as a baby he had often dandled her on his knee, and when he pressed it with his pallid lips she felt something fall upon it” [27; 60]. In this case the events represented by the author introduce the mentioned concept.

Another use of the epithets is also represented in the THEATRE concept: “In this business you have to take the rough with the smooth. You’re the best actress in England” [27; 79]. In this case the epithet best is used.

The tropes are used in the following fragment of the novel in order to represent the THEATRE concept: “With him she sought to be neither gay nor brilliant, she was tender and wistful. Her heart ached, notwithstanding the scintillating performance she had given during the day; arid’ it was with almost complete sincerity that with sighs, sad looks and broken sentences, she made him understand that her life was hollow and despite the long continued success of her career she could not but feel that she had missed something. Sometimes she thought of the villa at Sorrento on the bay of Naples” [27; 141]. So the epithets gay, brilliant, tender, wistful, scintillating, long continued are used in this case.

The THEATRE concept is also represented by the use of the epithet fashionable in the following fragment: “The play went well from the beginning; the audience, notwithstanding the season, a fashionable one, were pleased after the holidays to find themselves once more in a playhouse, and were ready to be amused” [27; 273].

So the THEATRE concept is mainly realized with the help of the use of epithets and similes in W.S.Maugham’s “Theatre” what made the novel more emotionally painted.

Conclusions

The tasks of our study were to learn the concept as the basic term of cognitive linguistics, to generalize the notion of theatre. Having made our study we can make some conclusions.

As remembered conceptualization is the process of the creation and construction of concept in the human recognition. It is also the process of thought concerning the new information that causes the creation of concept. The study of concept is the main task of the cognitive linguistics. Every attempt to realize the nature of concept causes the realization of the fact of presence of closely-related concepts and terms. Concept is the intellectual category that may not be recognized visually. This fact causes the presence of the wide area for the interpretation of concept.

Every language mark represents concept in the language, but it does not represent concept in a whole. With the assistance of its meaning the language mark represents several conceptual features that are relevant for the transmission of the information. If we need to express concept in a whole it is necessary to apply different linguistic means and the whole nominative field of concept. So both concept and its compounds may be verbalized and non-verbalized. It is difficult to define concepts that are non-verbalized.

The most wide-spread definition of concept is following: concept is the discrete mental creation that is the basic unit of the intellectual code of the human. This code is characterized by the internal structure. It is a result of the cognitive activity of the human and society and brings the complex and encyclopedic information about the subject and phenomenon and the social attitude to this phenomenon.

Concepts may be classified according to the type of knowledge and reflection of reality because these types are the foundation of the method of the assignment and description of concept.

    So concepts represent the world in the human recognition creating the conceptual system. Besides, the marks of the human language codify the content of this system in the world. Concepts appear in the human recognition as a result of the activity, interpretation of the world and socialization. Every concept includes the generalized content of different forms of expression in the natural language and in spheres that are based on the language and their presence is impossible without language. Concepts as the results of the intellectual activity should be verbalized. The language connects the people into the nation with the assistance of concepts.

The nominative field is based on the conceptual or, in other words, semantic fields. Words may be classified according to the concepts underlying their meaning. This classification is closely connected with the theory of conceptual or semantic fields. Besides, the theory of semantic field is severely criticized by the linguists mainly on philosophical grounds since some of the proponents of the semantic field theory hold the idealistic view that, language is a kind of self-contained entity standing between the man and the world of reality.

We made research of the novel "Theatre" to expose the THEATRE concept, and can make conclusion that W.S.Maugham considered theatre not like other writers.

In general the word “theatre” means a “place for seeing”. The two most common types of theatre plays are comedy and tragedy, symbolized by the theatre masks. The first recorded theatrical event was a performance of the sacred plays of the myth of Osiris and Isis in 2500 BC in Egypt. This story of the god Osiris was performed annually at festivals throughout the civilization, marking the beginning of a long relationship between theatre and religion.

Besides, the most recognizable figures in theatre (according toW.S.Maugham) are the directors, playwrights, and actors, but theatre is a highly collaborative endeavor. Plays are usually produced by a production team that commonly includes a scenic or set designer, lighting designer, costume designer, sound designer, stage manager, props mistress or master and production manager.

The THEATRE concept is represented in different fragments of W.S.Maugham’s novel. It is mainly represented with the help of the introduction of the literary character’s activities. It is mainly realized with the help of the use of epithets and similes. The theatre as people is mainly represented by W.S.Maugham with the help of the concept “actor”.

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